Kōan Sugita
| full name = Kōan Sugita | kanji = 杉田洪庵 | romanji = Sugita Kōan | race = | birthdate = October 13 | age = 30 (physical, a.m.) ≈1,000 (actual, lifespan 740 A.D. – ca. 1700 A.D.) | gender = Male | height = 178 cm (5' 10") | weight = 70 kg (154 lbs) | hair color = Black | eye color = Gray | sign = , | bloodtype = B+ | previous affiliation = | previous occupation = , Shinigami, Scientist | previous team = , | previous partner = En Kokaji Rin Hanada | previous position = 5th Seat, (promoted) Lieutenant, (promoted) Captain (resigned) | base of operations = Ninth Division Headquarters, (formerly) Tenth Division Headquarters , (formerly) (formerly) | education = | marital status = Single | family = None | status = Deceased | shikai = Gensui-kyō | bankai = Banshō Hantai-kyō }} Kōan Sugita (杉田洪庵, Sugita Kōan) was a renowned scientist, brilliant inventor, and prolific journalist who greatly contributed to technological advancement in the hundreds of years before founded the . Although mainly known for his work on the project, he also formulated or improved many scientific theories that would come to provide a basic foundation for later innovation. While Kōan’s writings are extensive, they are difficult to access as they are stored within the , with only captains and other high-ranking officers of the capable of accessing them. This is because, while his research was fundamental in improving the technology in the , his contradictory views on the nature and mechanics of the eventually led him to his downfall after one of his experiments went awry. The incident escalated into accusations of treason, and Kōan was tried before for alleged crimes. Sentenced to death, he managed to escape and fled to , although he was formerly declared as “exiled” in order to prevent a slight against the Gotei 13’s reputation. After much effort, an assassination unit tracked him down, and Kōan died in obscurity in the sands of Hueco Mundo. His work was later forgotten until his books eventually fell into Urahara's hands, who carried on and surpassed his legacy. Around nine years following the end of the , an apparition of Kōan that had been recorded by the Dangai, complete with his memories and a small amount of , reemerged in the Soul Society. After breaking into the Daireishokairō and learning of his own fate, Kōan again escaped to Hueco Mundo, where he enlisted the help of an unknown individual in order to retrieve his and instill his essence into a . Apparently stirred into action when The Coven seized control of Soul Society, Kōan has recently returned to aid the Shinigami, although his reasons for doing so remain uncertain. Appearance Personality History in , a city that is now part of north . He, his mother, and his sickly, aging father lived on a small farm, where they grew hemp and barley. Even at a young age, he demonstrated an innovative mindset and expansive imagination, creating several devices to aid in the housework, for instance, or even experimenting with the design of the plow. His father died when he was ten, and five years after that the army of invaded Yanjing, pillaging and destroying whatever was in their path. The farm was burned to the ground, and his mother died in the flames. But he managed to escape and fled south, just barely outrunning the front of the violent rebellion. He eventually reached the encamped Tang forces and enlisted as a simple spearman in the army of , who was able to successfully push the invaders back in the . After demonstrating his skill and aptitude in the battle, Kōan was made a proper warrior and became known for his spontaneous tactics on the field and strategic genius. Victory was not to last, however, as in January of 757 A.D. the Yan laid siege to the city of . At first the Tang held off well and put up an impressive resistance. It was Kōan’s idea to shoot weeds at the enemy forces in order to root out their leader: Once the Yan soldiers realized the arrows were fake, they rushed to their commander to deliver the good news that the adversary was out of ammunition, at which point one of the Tang archers shot the general through the left eye, sending the army into chaos. The defenders executed several successful ambushes in the aftermath of the initial battle, but eventually enemy reinforcements had pooled around the city and supplies began to wither. As the months dragged on anything edible was exhausted, and no help was offered from the fearful Tang governors outside the siege line. Eventually, after Zhang Xun encouraged them to do so, the army turned to cannibalism. While the majority of his life as a human may have become blurred and lost to him in the haze of time, Kōan clearly remembered the horrors he witnessed in Suiyang: a burden that he carried with him even to the Soul Society. The original army of 7,000 was reduced to 400 by mid-October, many having been killed off by the Yan, but most claimed by exhaustion or starvation. Their own losses were nothing compared to the city itself, however, whose some 20,000 inhabitants were all killed and consumed within a period of four months. No one resisted, simply resigning themselves to their fate, and Kōan watched as hundreds filed silently to their own deaths, their bones growing into a white mountain that he knew he too, must one day become a part of. But whether it was by wit or sheer force of will, he survived, although it took the sacrifice of his own comrades to keep him alive, and, gradually, he became numb to eating their flesh. Such an experience was deeply ingrained into his psyche, and would later come to define his high regard for life and his unwillingness to sacrifice what he called “humanity” in his scientific endeavors, forever remembering the empty and soulless shell he had become during that time. At last Suiyang fell to the Yan army. The remnants of the Tang forces, too weak to even shoot arrows, succumbed to defeat, and Kōan was one of the first soldiers to meet the wave of advanced cavalry who broke through the wall. He remembered the swarm of black horses, pounding hooves that churned the wet earth, throwing blood in their wake, and his own grim acceptance of fate and despair. Without any hint of courage his spear was raised of its own volition, futilely, heavily, and slowly presenting a final act of defiance, before he was trampled beneath the army, drowned in the mud and crushed to death beneath his conquerors. The Rukongai After drifting through the Dangai for ten years, Kōan’s soul eventually migrated to the Soul Society and emerged in the midst of a war-torn . was in the process of forming the Gotei 13, and as their initial mission was to crush any opposition to the recently established of the Soul Society, chaos reigned rampant throughout the land. At first, Kōan was disoriented and overwhelmed by the new world he found himself in. The drastic shift from his native to the Japanese spoken in the Soul Society was one of his greatest hurdles to overcome, as in those days souls typically carried their original language with them, lacking the benefit of the automatic linguistic adjustment that would be implemented in later years. There were other differences in culture to adapt to as well, although fortunately these were relatively minor in comparison to learning a new language. Nevertheless, those first few years were incredibly difficult, and Kōan wandered aimlessly from place to place, always on the brink of starvation due to the “curse” of his inherent . But even those without spiritual pressure experienced hardship, as taxes had to be paid to the Seireitei despite the fact that the land itself groaned under the oppression of a ten-year’s famine. Eventually he made his way to the south, where he found a community of souls who, like him, had originally come from northern China. He discovered, however, that most had lost their memories of the human world once they had arrived in the Soul Society, and those who did remember parts of their past found they were fragmented and blurry recollections at best. Kōan, on the other hand, remembered many things, which had helped him to survive while on his own and now aided him in integrating into the community. The mountainous district had been designated for rice farming by the Seireitei, although due to the drought hardly anything except gourds would grow. After significant planning and careful thought, Kōan designed an irrigation system that was based on ones he had seen in China, and for the first time in five years the district experienced a harvest. This was the first step into the scientific realm for Kōan, and with each passing year his designs improved, becoming more efficient and advanced. During the winter months he would travel to the surrounding districts to experiment with his agricultural innovations, and soon the region became known for its high production rate. He would always return to his “home” each summer, partly because of a sentimental attachment to the district, but mainly because it was where the first signs of revolution were beginning to show. The district Kōan had originally taken up residence in would become known in later years (after the Reconstruction Period) as Toen (土偃, “earthen dike”): the 56th District in the South Rukongai. It was also in this district that Zhao Chang, a warrior who had passed on a few centuries before Kōan’s arrival, had established a martial arts school known as the “House of Five Phases.” Here students practiced a style that closely resembled an ancient version of , which seemed to suit the agricultural-based community well as its most basic notions of movement and body mechanics were heavily influenced by the use of pole-arms, such as staffs and spears: weapons readily available or improvised by Toen’s residents. Zhao Chang had originally intended to teach basic self-defense, which was useful against both marauding thieves and the Hollows that would occasionally emerge in the area. But in those days, all lived under the constant fear that they would be caught haplessly in the path of one of the dreaded " " many conflicts and be cut down, either out of unfortunate coincidence or some malicious whim on the part of the Balancers themselves. As such, the school had gradually become shaped by this fear, and its style eventually encompassed many methods that would be useful in a direct confrontation with a Balancer. These methods included controlling and shaping one’s " " and applying it as a force, which was almost identical to the art of itself. Of course not everyone in the school was capable of using this "new" style of combat, but Kōan was among the few who possessed the necessary Reiatsu to fight in such a manner. He and Zhao Chang connected, at first at a philosophical level, but afterwards much more personally. Kōan found that Zhao Chang’s view of the world resonated with the principles of that he had formerly adhered to, and he considered Zhao Chang to be his personal mentor. As they trained together their skills greatly improved and began to exceed those of the other practitioners in the school. Even here Kōan demonstrated his innovative mindset in constantly experimenting with and adjusting the style. He became somewhat obsessed with the concept of "forward motion," and found that by channeling his "life force" and applying it directly to the surrounding environment he was able to move with greater efficiency and speed, which also meant greater force. While he never discovered the exact technique to utilize , the groundwork in learning had been established, which would come to define his own distinct method of combat in the future. South Rukongai Uprising For fifty years Kōan studied under Zhao Chang, and with each passing season he began to sense more keenly the growing resentment of those around him against the capital. The was simply a figurehead that was used as an excuse by his 46 “ambassadors” to control the lower classes, and they had even fallen in league with Genryūsai Yamamoto himself, sanctioning his “ ” and allying themselves with his bloodthirsty organization of Balancers. Taxes had increased to feed the growing army, while at the same time the Balancers offered no protection to their own providers— those who lived in the Rukongai. Soon the grumbling complaints had spread across the entirety of the southern region, and Zhao Chang’s school became the focal point for the protestors. Villages from surrounding lands would send their leaders to meet and discuss a way to end or at least lessen the great injustice; but as many would have simply liked to peacefully petition the capital, eventually everyone's thoughts became colored with what they began to see as their only option— war. What occurred next was perhaps the greatest mobilization of a Rukongai military force that the Soul Society would ever see, and it began at Zhao Chang’s school itself. The capital employed a network of spies in the Rukongai, and eventually they caught wind of the rising rebellion. After some deliberation, it was decided that it would be best to remove the “head” of the movement at once, and allow the body to wither and die on its own. Thus the extermination of Zhao Chang was ordered, to be carried out immediately by a small force of Balancers. They quickly found the school despite its well-concealed location in the mountains and rooted out any of the students they could find. Instead of slaughtering them on the spot, however, they subdued them and held them as hostages, forcing Zhao Chang to reveal himself. He did, on the promise that his students be released, and calmly faced his own death. The Balancers cut off his head to take it back to the capital, but they were not so unintelligent as to break their oath and incite an uprising by killing the students, and so allowed them to go free. They nonetheless burned the school to the ground, thus issuing a formal warning to any who would dare to oppose the capital. The incident had occurred during the winter, and as Kōan had been away in another district he did not receive news of his mentor’s death until a few weeks later. He returned as quickly as he could to find nothing but the charred remnants of what had once been Zhao Chang’s greatest pride in life, and he grieved at his master’s grave. Instead of cutting off the feet of the protesters from under them as the capital had hoped, Zhao Chang’s death served as a rallying point for the dissenters. Before they had lacked a clear-cut cause to attack, and the movement had floundered under the difference of opinion regarding what essentially was to be their battle cry. But now the animosity against the capital was ignited and burst into full flame, and soon the movement picked up such momentum that all were dragged along with it whether they wished to be a part of it or not. Originally they approached Kōan and asked him to become one of the leaders of the rebellion, as he had been closest to Zhao Chang and would thus serve as the clearest symbol of defiance to unite the protestors. But Kōan knew what Zhao Chang’s true wishes would have been. Unlike the picture of a fiery revolutionary the protestors painted of him, Zhao Chang had wished for peace and balance above all else, having considerably mellowed in his view of the capital as the years had passed. He had held to the tenant that “violence incites only more violence,” and in the months preceding his death had preached moderation and patience to the protestors, who refused to listen to his council. Kōan wished to honor his views, and initially refused the protestors’ request to join them, attempting to remain aloof of the uprising as long as he could. He had never been a proponent of it to begin with, instead working to improve the quality of life on an inward scale, as he had shown with his efforts in irrigation. But the pull of the uprising was strong; and, still numb from Zhao Chang’s death and in a weakened state of mind, Kōan at last capitulated and became a part of the insurgency. The protestors took up arms and laid siege to the capital that spring. Kōan was one of the main strategists for the battle, and had focused on designing cannons that were capable of reducing the city’s high stonewalls to rubble. Again, as he had done in agricultural engineering, he based his designs off of the simple gunpowder cannons that he had been in use during the Tang dynasty. The protestor’s intention was to draw the Balancers out into the slums that surrounded the capital, where they would separate the enemy and engage them in well-coordinated teams. Each group was to be led by an individual capable of utilizing Reiatsu, thus bettering their odds against their powerful opponents. They also planned to set fire to the capital in order to effectively split the Balancer’s focus between two fronts. But in the end all their careful preparation was futile. The battle was short-lived, and ultimately some 30,000 Rukongai combatants were reduced to a remnant force over the course of two days. While the uprising caused a considerable disturbance, and despite the high death toll of Rukongai souls, neither Yamamoto nor the other high-ranking Balancers perceived it as a serious threat until after the south gate was destroyed mid-way into the battle. Kōan witnessed the south wall collapse with his own eyes as he was at the front of the artillery forces at the time, and watched as and the first , among other captains, emerged from the haze to wreak utter destruction upon the insurrectionists. Knowing that their chances of survival were low or nonexistent when it came to a direct confrontation with the captains, Kōan instead ordered a retreat and he and his unit managed to escape from the wall and make their way back to the Rukongai. This was a maneuver mimicked by the other battalions across the battlefield and, in actuality, the only thing that prevented an immediate massacre. The original group-operative strategy caused the Balancers some frustration in pinning down the multitude of rebels surrounding the capital as they were forced to pick out the Reiatsu of each group leader and then hunt them down individually. Kōan skillfully evaded the Balancers for as long as he could, but eventually, wearied and haggard with fear, he and his unit were found out and their escape cut short. His allies were slain before his eyes, despite all he had done to try and prevent the slaughter. Falling into despair, he fought bitterly until he was overwhelmed and forced to the ground. All about him the battle had dwindled until, like Kōan, only a few of the most unrelenting resistors were left alive. At that realization the last shred of hope slipped away from him and he bowed his head to accept the blade of the Balancer that would serve as his fate. His execution was interrupted by Chiyori Nakamura, the vice-captain of the , who spared his life on a whim. She had personally tired of the killing and wished to preserve those whose skill had allowed them to survive until the end of the uprising, believing that to terminate them at that point was a personal disgrace and akin to needlessly destroying a well-crafted work of art. Perhaps it was because he felt as though he had finally encountered a sense of justice in the world, or maybe due to his surprise over discovering that the Balancers were much more egalitarian than he had previously thought, Kōan accepted Nakamura’s offer that he join Yamamoto’s organization and become a Balancer. He accompanied her, alongside a short line of prisoners designated for interrogation or formal execution, back to the capital. For the last time he stood on the crest of a ridge and stared back at the Rukongai that he himself had betrayed, and then his eyes became those of a cold outsider, at one with the world and work of the Balancers. Service in the Ninth Division Over the next few years Kōan attended Genji School where he studied under some of the foremost practitioners in . While he excelled in Hakuda and Hohō as he already boasted considerable experience in those areas, and, particularly, came with much more difficulty. He had been given a upon entering the academy, but he struggled to wield it in its sealed sword’s form as he had always preferred pole-arms as his weapon of choice, and so he did not begin to connect with the spirit of his Zanpakutō until much later. But more than anything else, Kōan’s greatest trial was learning how to read and write. He had, over the years, taught himself some of the basics and was able to determine a few of the more common characters, and he had often used numbers and a system of marking in his hand-drawn irrigation diagrams. However, this mainly served to hinder rather than help him as he had picked up and ingrained several bad habits in his handwriting, which would continue throughout the rest of his life. Nevertheless, he applied himself diligently and was soon completely literate, although due to the extra self-imposed study, he did not interact much with the other students. Most avoided him anyway due to his solemn, dead-serious bearing, not realizing that his quiet withdrawal and utter abandon in his studies were simply means of coping with his grief, as Kōan still felt the loss of Zhao Chang deeply. It was during his time in the academy that he began to latch on to the notion that the only way to prevent another massacre such as the one that had occurred during the uprising would be to completely separate the world of the Balancers from that of the Rukongai souls, and he started to value the preservation of life over the idea of “equality.” But he was left with little spare time to develop his theories while in the academy, and this philosophy would not mature until later on. Upon his graduation Kōan was transferred to the Ninth Division, entering at a high rank. He served as the division’s fifth seat under captain Tenma Takamori and lieutenant Chiyori Nakamura, and in fact it had been the latter who had suggested his position in the ninth, no doubt having recalled their encounter some years prior. Chiyori was an excellent and, at the time, unconventional lieutenant who invested personally into the lives of her subordinates. She was even able to finally break past the shell of solitude that Kōan had built for himself, and he began to connect with her, seeing her as a friend and someone he could trust for advice. It was Chiyori who encouraged him to delve deeper into his scientific musings after he shared some of his ideas with her, at which point he began to apply his theories more concretely in his first major project— researching . The mineral had been discovered several centuries before Kōan’s time and, while rare, was even utilized in constructs such as the capital wall. But the stone was largely misunderstood, and it was Kōan who discovered Sekkiseki’s more unique properties and applications, such as the fact that it would emit a particular wave of Reiatsu when cut at a certain angle. He wrote extensively on his findings, thoroughly documenting even the slightest details on the subject. His obsession stemmed from the conclusion that the greatest bloodshed in the uprising had been a result of the breach in the wall and that to discourage any further thoughts of rebellion (and thus severely mitigate the probability of another slaughter) a stronger barrier and deterrent against insurgency must be built. Over the course of several decades he experimented with and expanded the concept, eventually drawing up plans for a large, spherical barrier that would envelop the city by creating an invisible shield using the intermolecular, repulsing of Sekkiseki. Although he presented his theory to the Soul King's ambassadors many times and published numerous papers on the potential uses of Sekkiseki, his proposals were repeatedly denied. Eventually, becoming more and more dejected, he began to slip back into depression until Chiyori suggested he shift his focus to another area for a while, which prompted him to begin training with his own Zanpakutō. He soon learned the name of his sword and attained Shikai, whose released state was easy for him to master due to the familiarity of its form. }} Inventions and Discoveries Artificial Soul Theory: Codifier: Sekiseki Discovery and Extraction: Hell Butterfly Project: Prothetic Limb Research: Senkaimon Project: "Dangai Generator" Theory: Powers and Abilities Natural Abilities : Prior to his downfall, Kōan had been under consideration for promotion to the Royal Guard, mainly on account of his scientific contributions as opposed to any form of combat prowess. Nevertheless, the fact that he was one of the few captains considered eligible attested to the immense Reiatsu he held. Somewhat unusually, however, none of this Reiatsu was detectable through means, and most assumed Kōan’s level of spiritual power to be “average” or even slightly underwhelming for a captain. In reality, this was because he had discovered a means to store his excess Reiatsu within pocket dimensions scattered throughout the Precipice World by redirecting his spiritual pressure immediately after it was generated by his Reiryoku. Originally, Kōan had experimented extensively to try and develop a way to concentrate this extra Reiatsu into a usable form in order to restore depleted levels of spiritual energy in extended combat, thus reducing Shinigami casualties. However, all his efforts met with resistance, as he discovered that the Reiatsu was actually being deposited within pockets of psychological space in his Zanpakutō’s inner world. Thus, while he was unable to recycle the Reiatsu or use it in support of others, he could unleash it as needed by accessing the pocket dimensions via Jinzen. Genius Intellect *'Master Scientist & Inventor:' Special Abilities : : : *'Yarijutsu Specialist:' Zanpakutō Gensui-kyō (減衰鏡, lit. "attenuating mirror"): As was relatively typical for contemporaries of the era, Kōan’s Zanpakutō resembled a as opposed to a standard katana in its sealed state. Due to the blade’s unusual length (100 cm (39”), compared to the standard 80 cm (32”), not including the hilt), Kōan would normally wear the sword slung across his back instead of at his side. The saya was blue-gray in color and was adorned with circular semegane, along with a matching silver plate in the shape of a a wave that curled around the base of the scabbard. The tsuka-ito was dark blue, nearly black, and wrapped over the hilt’s white pebbled same to extend partially down the length of the saya. The tsuba was kept simple and elegant in its design, and aside from its only decorations of one circular thumb cut-out and a leaping koi fish it was otherwise a flat silver disk. The sageo was knotted around two subtle metal rings, forgoing the bulky, traditional ashi mountings, and was made of soft black leather. Soon after acquiring the after joining the Gotei 13, Kōan attached a dark blue tassel to the kashira in honor of those who had died in the battle against the Seireitei. Kōan described his inner world as a clear, perfectly still lake whose pitch-black surface perfectly mirrored a night sky filled with stars. However, as Kouan started to slip into moral decay the stars began to disappear, burning out one by one until only darkness remained. He brought Rina to his inner world several times after learning how to link souls during , and they would often train on the surface of the mirror-like lake. In Bankai, innumerable white lotuses would appear floating on the water, a reflection of its abilities. The spirit of Kōan's Zanpakutō resembled a giant blue koi that swam beneath the lake’s surface, where he would converse with Gensui-kyō while in a deeper state of Jinzen. *' :' The release command for Kōan’s Zanpakutō is "Upend the truth" (現実を覆して, genjitsu o kutsugaeshite, lit. “overturn reality”). While in its released state, Kōan's Zanpakutō resembled a trident or a , with pointed prongs and a long, black shaft that appeared to be made out of lacquer or polished bamboo. :Shikai Special Ability: *' : Banshō Hantai-kyō' (万象反対鏡, "All-creation Rejecting Mirror"): :Bankai Special Ability: ::1. Purity: the all-consuming ::2. Power: Direct agency invested in vessel ::3. Clarity/Insight: Glimpse of future events via observance of present, all things not visible made clear ::4. Determination: Setting of a course that cannot be denied ::5. Concentration: Singular focus ::6. Tranquility: Allowing phenomena to occur without fear, "lapse" ::7. Truth: The understanding of the state of reality laid bare, without deception of self or others ::8. Equanimity: to be fully aware of all phenomena without being lustful or averse towards them. Quotes :(Excerpt from Philosophy of Souls)Every individual is, in the end, completely depraved, fallible, and human. But the moment human life itself is disvalued is the moment when all hope in humanity has been lost. And if hope is lost, a vacuum is created within the soul; of which can only be filled with utter darkness. :(During his trial before Central 46) "A great number of years ago we Balancers were renamed ‘Shinigami,’ as evidentially we are now meant to be seen as ‘gods of death.’ To me this is a ridiculous postulate. If something is truly demanding of worship—that is to say, a ‘god’— then it is undoubtedly that great mass of interstitial nothingness which binds the ties of reality itself, by which I of course mean the Dangai. Not even his majesty the Soul King can hold that kind of claim, regardless of his significance in maintaining the stability of the dimensions. I realize this may sound like treason or even blasphemy, but it is the truth of the world as I have come to see it. And for this reason, as agents of change working either in harmony or in contradiction to the Dangai, that I prefer to be called a ‘Balancer,’ although this may be nothing more than whimsical sentiment..." Trivia *While Kōan seems to bear a striking similarity in appearance to , they do not share any known relation and their resemblance is most likely simply due to sheer coincidence. Kōan appears more distinct from Aizen when seen without his glasses. *The names of Kōan and Sugita were taken from and , respectively. This was meant as an homage, as both were important scientists in Japan's history who embraced western medicine during the period. *Kōan's theme song, as stated by the author, is Renegades, by the X Ambassadors. *Credit for the name of Kōan's bankai goes to Dainemuri. Category:Original Character Category:Shinigami Category:Exiled Shinigami Category:Scientist Category:Male Category:Deceased